Detection of Tick-Borne Pathogens in Ticks from Cattle in Western Highlands of Cameroon.

This study aimed to detect and identify microorganisms in ticks collected in the Western Highlands of Cameroon. Quantitative real-time and standard PCR assays, coupled with sequencing, were used. A total of 944 ticks collected from cattle in five distinct sites in Cameroon were selected for the analyses. They belonged to five genera (, , , and ) and twelve species. Real-time PCR revealed that 23% ( = 218) of the ticks were positive for spp., 15% ( = 141) for bacteria of the Anaplasmataceae family, 3% ( = 29) for Piroplasmida, 0.5% ( = 5) for 0.4% ( = 4) for spp., and 0.2% ( = 2) for spp. The co-infection rate (3.4%, = 32) involved mainly spp. and Anaplasmataceae. Of the spp. positive ticks, the targeted PCR and sequencing yielded (78.9%) (6.4%), (7.8%), Rickettsia barbariae (0.9%), and sp. (0.9%). Anaplasmataceae included (4.3%), (1.4%), (0.7%), (0.7%), sp., Ehrlichia rustica (13.5%), Ehrlichia urmitei (7%), and an uncultured sp. (4.2%). was identified in one tick. Unfortunately, Piroplasmida could not be identified to the species level. This study demonstrates that in Cameroon, ticks harbour a wide variety of microorganisms and present a risk of zoonotic diseases.